BXBX NOVEL Chapter 286 286 - The Gods Are Dead
Laying right before him, she had drifted apart while he'd been unconscious. Not even getting to speak for one last time, Haruki felt his heart squeezing in with a storm of emotions brewing up inside. Enraged by what had happened, he shot up his gaze at the queen of Valkyries standing before a chain-bound Atlas.
"And for you now, Atlas," to Haruki's surprise, Helga reached once again for the bloody god blade she'd taken out of Destinia. "You've tainted your father's legacy again and again, but to attempt and create an heir with the murderer's daughter? I cannot forgive such insolence."
Without a word more, she drew the sword back and plunged it deep into the god's belly. Atlas flinched in response, but his eyes remained scornful. Had it not been for the chains, he would've torn Helga apart or at least he would've tried to, however, in the condition that he was in, even half of Haruki's strength would've been enough to kill him.
"Y-you can't kill me!" Atlas exclaimed, perhaps growing a bit delusional. "Do you have any idea what would happen if I die and leave this world without an heir?!"
"Nothing, that's what will happen, you arrogant fool," Helga replied, drawing her blade out of Atlas's guts.
As his blood and innards began pouring out, Atlas's eyes lit up with a fiery dark gaze and the sea of stars returned to his sight. Pulling onto the chains held by the Valkyries, he managed to take them off of their hands.
"Without a god, the creator's world would cease to exist!" Gathering up his strength, Atlas curled up his fist and swung it towards Helga.
Sighing at his attempt, Helga cut his fist off with the god blade before it could reach her. Once again, Atlas let out a disgruntled grunt while the other Valkyries picked up the ends of his chains to hold him in place.
"You'll pay for this Helga!" Looking up from down on his knees, Atlas shot the queen a bloodshot gaze. "You can't just kill my heir and get away wi-"
"I'm done with you," drawing the trident from the side of her hips, the queen of Valkyries thrust it right against Atlas's head. Tearing through his eyes, the spikes dug into his skull before coming out from the other end.
For a moment, the forest of fairies was suffocating with silence, but as Atlas's body grabbed the trident despite being stabbed through the brain, a resounding gasp left the mouths of all who were present. Witnessing it all, Haruki could not be any less certain if he was back in reality or seeing an illusion.
'What's happening?' He thought, watching Atlas get back on his feet.
Taking the trident out of his body, Atlas held it firmly in his hands. The holes in his eye sockets and the back of his skull were still bleeding with no signs of recovery kicking in. In spite of the injury, the god of this world appeared ready to fight Helga, but then again, the chains on his fickle frame kept his actions well in check.
"Demon," Helga muttered, looking down towards Haruki.
With a smile, she kept looking at him while her right hand raised the god blade high and cut off Atlas's arm holding onto the trident.
"I suppose he has something that's kept him alive which might be yours," she said, eyeing a small sphere of white that'd fallen down Atlas's body.
With only a glance, Haruki knew what it was. The white glow coming from within the small marble was something he'd long been in search of.
"Serena's soul…" He whispered before quickly taking it off the ground.
While he hid the soul in his clothes, Atlas's body finally fell to the ground, and a sudden announcement in Haruki's head confirmed the passing of a great foe.
'Status loss: Emperor's curse!' Feeling the emperor's binds being slowly undone on his body, Haruki had no clue how to feel about the whole ordeal. On one hand, he was relieved; on the other, he couldn't bring himself to feel any joy with Moriyana's cold body laying right beside him.
"Thanks a lot for taking this out," kneeling beside him, Helga picked up the other god blade and put it by her waist belt.
Straightening herself again, she looked down at Haruki for a minute as if contemplating something through her mind. Then, breaking the silence, she spoke in a somewhat hushed tone.
"I would've loved to meet you again, but since you're no heavenly body, I suppose hell's waiting for you," with that, she gestured for her soldiers to pick up Atlas's body and get ready to leave.
"Wait!" Haruki howled, while the Valkyries moved forward to pick up Atlas. "Why spare me? You've killed two gods, and struck down these demon lords, so why?!"
Unable to reason why she didn't lay a single finger on him, Haruki had to ask. Even in her eyes, he could see a hint of indifference towards him as if she didn't really care what happened to him.
"Hmm? Why?" Turning back to the demon sitting on the ground, Helga perked up a mocking smile. "Because you're not worthy to be struck down, you're nothing but a rogue who'd been put up on a pedestal he's not in the least worthy of."
Pausing for a moment, Helga pressed a finger onto her lips to mull over a certain thought. Smiling at the end of it, she let out a chuckle and spoke once more.
"And I suppose, Atlas does need a new god, however incompetent it may be," she concluded, turning away from Haruki as she spoke.
'Incompetent? Not worthy to be struck down? Just a rogue?' Those words spoken by the Valkyries echoed in Haruki's mind. After all he has done, to be addressed in such a way, all the while in his arms laid the proof of his incompetence? He couldn't bring himself to accept the truth. 'I've worked every second of my existence being puppeteered around trying to escape this moronic feud between these heavenly bodies, but now that I'm here, but now that I want to be involved to keep my people safe, you want me to be cast away and forget this hell?'
"No way," laying Moriyana gently off his lap, Haruki raised to his feet with his gaze downcast. "You're not just going to walk away after saying that…"
"Don't try it," Helga responded without even turning around to face him.
Conjuring up an aura of darkness in one hand and turning his other fist into that of a frost dragon's claw, Haruki leaped towards her with nothing but revenge on his mind. Bearing both claws against Helga, he tried to swipe at her back, but before he could do so a feathered arm appeared above him and struck down at his skull from above.
"There's no walk for you Haruki, as a human soul, you'd be joining other mortals in hell," looking back from over her shoulder, Helga glared at Haruki. "Enjoy your time in these realms, because once your life ends, nothing but suffering awaits you."
Downed on the ground with his vision all blurred, Haruki barely caught Helga's words as the pain from the strike shut his brain slowly. Eventually, as he fell unconscious, Helga shifted her attention to the skies and took to the air with her wide angelic wings.
"Good night, and take care of this dying world, or it will soon be time for Armageddon," Helga muttered, fluttering her wings as she opened a portal to Valhalla.
Passing through it, she led her army back to their home with the bodies of not one but three gods that needed to be buried. Left alone in the realm of fairies, Haruki and the others were quickly surrounded by resentful spirits too cowardly to do anything. And their cowardice only grew when Haruki's body rose once again, but to their surprise, they felt a different kind of soul control his vessel.
"What in the world happened here?" Looking around the chaotic scene, Asmodia mumbled through Haruki's lips. "All this blood and…"
Upon landing on Moriyana with her eyes, a deep-rooted terror struck her like a ton of bricks. Frozen in shock, she stood in place as a strangling burst of emotions took hold of her heart and mind.
"Moriyana?" She called, finally stepping towards her daughter's corpse.
Kneeling down in front of her, she tried to reach for her bodied lips to wash them off with her thumb, however, the moment she moved her arm forward the nervous jittering in them caught her completely off guard.
'What's this?' Having distanced herself from mortal expressions, she had never experienced grief that could shake her whole demeanor. Thus upon seeing her body responding so vehemently toward the loss, Asmodia was lost for both words and at a loss for action. 'Why do I feel this way? What's happening?'
Tearing up at the sight, she had no clue as to what she was going through, yet the instincts of a mother were alive and kicking from deep within.
"I-I should leave before that bitch realizes I'm still here…" Although her heart continued to ache, Asmodia powered through her emotions to reach a reasonable end.
'Why do I care so much? She was just another pet…' Trying to brush it all off, she lied to her instinct while picking up everyone before retreating back to the Hestemian castle.